Description:
Doctor visits/use/events consist of encounters that take place primarily in office-based settings and clinics. Doctor visit expenditures include all direct payments by individuals, private insurance (including TRICARE), Medicare, Medicaid, and other sources such as the Veterans Administration, Workers' Compensation, and miscellaneous public sources to providers of the services. In MEPS, it is possible to distinguish doctor visits from nonphysician visits. Nonphysician visits are visits to chiropractors, midwives, nurses and nurse practitioners, optometrists, podiatrists, physician's assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers, technicians, and receptionists/clerks/secretaries. Doctor visits/use/events and expenditures are available as part of the Office-based Medical Provider and Hospital Outpatient event-level files. Information summarized to the person-level is available on the full-year consolidated files under the Household Full Year Files.

Analytic tools:
You can use the MEPSNet/HC query tool to generate your own estimates for doctor visits and expenditures. Select the Medical Provider Visits and the Hospital Outpatient Visits variables within the Utilization, Expenditures, and SOP Variable Group of the Variable Selection Query Tab.